Where
The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre is housed on the third floor of the imposing William Booth College in south London. Opened in 1929, it is the training facility for Salvation Army officers.
What
“The museum explores the life of the Salvation Army from its beginnings as a small Christian organisation in 1865, to its role today as a global movement,” says Naomi Sharp, the centre’s archivist and deputy director.
“It has a strong interactive element, displaying three short films and has a listening point for an oral history project.” There is also a library and archive collection open to researchers in the reading room.
Opened
The organisation first had a museum in the 1920s, which moved to various sites and closed for several periods over the years. The current museum, designed by Haley Sharpe, opened in June 2011 and can be visited from Tuesdays to Fridays.
Collection
“It’s very varied; there is everything from early posters and members’ registers to a hard-hat worn on 9/11 by emergency workers,” Sharp says. Unsurprisingly, given the Salvation Army’s reputation for outfits and bands, there are plenty of uniforms and musical instruments.
Help at hand
There is a team of six: a director, two archivists, a museum professional, a social historian and a conservator. Two of the team are Salvation Army officers.
Budget
The centre is funded by the Salvation Army itself. Admission is free.
Visits
Figures not available yet.
Highlights
Sharp selects a bone skeleton pin badge worn by a member of the Skeleton Army, an anti-Salvationist group active during the 1880s. “It is a tiny object, but it symbolises the depth of opposition that the organisation was facing at the time,” she says.
Survival tip
“Stay positive and ambitious,” says Sharp. “Our museum was set up on a small budget in a small space, but we strive to have big, creative ideas about the best ways to use our collections.”
Sticky moment
“We reopened our sister museum, the William Booth Birthplace Museum in Nottingham, after a major redesign, a month before the heritage centre,” Sharp says.
“It was a lot of work to organise two major projects at once, and we ended up with only 24 hours to install the whole of the birthplace collection. It was a long day – but we felt very proud at the finish.”
Future project
“Our focus is on marketing and getting visitors,” Sharp says. Updating its website and putting the archive catalogue online are also on the agenda.
www.salvationarmy.org.uk/history
The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre is housed on the third floor of the imposing William Booth College in south London. Opened in 1929, it is the training facility for Salvation Army officers.
What
“The museum explores the life of the Salvation Army from its beginnings as a small Christian organisation in 1865, to its role today as a global movement,” says Naomi Sharp, the centre’s archivist and deputy director.
“It has a strong interactive element, displaying three short films and has a listening point for an oral history project.” There is also a library and archive collection open to researchers in the reading room.
Opened
The organisation first had a museum in the 1920s, which moved to various sites and closed for several periods over the years. The current museum, designed by Haley Sharpe, opened in June 2011 and can be visited from Tuesdays to Fridays.
Collection
“It’s very varied; there is everything from early posters and members’ registers to a hard-hat worn on 9/11 by emergency workers,” Sharp says. Unsurprisingly, given the Salvation Army’s reputation for outfits and bands, there are plenty of uniforms and musical instruments.
Help at hand
There is a team of six: a director, two archivists, a museum professional, a social historian and a conservator. Two of the team are Salvation Army officers.
Budget
The centre is funded by the Salvation Army itself. Admission is free.
Visits
Figures not available yet.
Highlights
Sharp selects a bone skeleton pin badge worn by a member of the Skeleton Army, an anti-Salvationist group active during the 1880s. “It is a tiny object, but it symbolises the depth of opposition that the organisation was facing at the time,” she says.
Survival tip
“Stay positive and ambitious,” says Sharp. “Our museum was set up on a small budget in a small space, but we strive to have big, creative ideas about the best ways to use our collections.”
Sticky moment
“We reopened our sister museum, the William Booth Birthplace Museum in Nottingham, after a major redesign, a month before the heritage centre,” Sharp says.
“It was a lot of work to organise two major projects at once, and we ended up with only 24 hours to install the whole of the birthplace collection. It was a long day – but we felt very proud at the finish.”
Future project
“Our focus is on marketing and getting visitors,” Sharp says. Updating its website and putting the archive catalogue online are also on the agenda.
www.salvationarmy.org.uk/history